My Favorite Drama OST Tracks - Korea

Aside from good acting and plot, we all know that music can make or break a show. Unappealing tracks can destroy an otherwise decent drama, while lovely, mood-appropriate pieces can make even the most dull of scenes fun or heartbreaking.

I realized while compiling this that I've watched a scary number of dramas :). Originally I had all of my drama favorites in here, but as it turned out far longer than expected, I'm splitting into separate posts by country, starting with Korea. Unlike with Taiwan/Japan, Korea has differed in that while I've adored many of their oldie dramas, I've only more recently started getting into the music.

This is a fairly exhaustive list of drama songs that I loved both while watching and long afterwards. Ranking is roughly in order of how much I like the songs (although I love all of them). Unfortunately blogger doesn't allow embedded music yet, so I've put up the youtube vids, plus some download links where applicable.

Have fun looking through! 

Boys Over Flowers

I'll admit, I'm what you might consider a hardcore HanaDan fan. I've completed the entire manga series (including rereads of certain parts) and watched probably every adaptation out there (Meteor Garden - which was what launched my drama craze, Hana Yori Dango, 80% of Jade Palace Lock Heart, and 50% of Let's Go Watch Meteor Shower). It's embarrassing, as some of those were just awful. What's even sadder is that I'll probably watch any future adaptations. If only I could get my hands on the rights for an American version - this is almost guaranteed ratings gold, although I'd hope whoever produces it puts a new spin on the repetitive plots.

What I've been Watching During Quarantine + My Drama OST Playlist

To be honest, quarantine hasn't changed my habits much as even prior to it most of my free time was consumed by shows. That said, I've certainly been able to make more progress on certain Kdramas and other things on my list, and have also marathoned through some of the more popular hits.

I also created a Spotify playlist with some of my favorite drama OST tracks from over the years - take a listen if you're as big a fan of Kdrama songs as I am! I tried to be fairly selective, only picking songs that struck a certain emotional chord with me while watching (surprisingly few vs the total number of dramas I've seen). I also wish Spotify had a broader selection of older/less popular drama OSTs but oh well. I'll be keeping this playlist updated as I find more favorites. Note I do have older posts with my favorite Kdrama OSTs and Taiwan/China drama OSTs in case you want to take a listen.

So in case you're curious, here's the list of shows I've been working my way through during quarantine.

My Favorite Drama OST Tracks - Taiwan / China

And now for part 2 of the Drama OST series, Taiwan / China. See my previous post on Part 1, Korea. Taiwan drama tracks are more deeply rooted in my heart, perhaps because I started my drama watching experiences here, and can actually understand what they're saying. Thus, you'll see the span of these reach further back in time than with Korea.

It's also the one country whose OSTs I often like even without watching the show. A lot of these are actually from dramas I either didn't like or stopped midway through, but the music is good enough to where I want to keep listening and watching.

Me Too, Flower: Episodes 5-7 Thoughts

Me Too, Flower remains by far my favorite drama right now, as the acting is fantastic, the romance a perfect mesh of humor and heat, and the characters almost all beautifully written. However, it also puts me in two states of minds. Certain parts are so nicely constructed, original, and funny that I can't step away, but others are overloaded with cliche angst and noble idiocy, making me want to slap the screen. Episodes 5-7 really encompass that. The purse-losing storyline was boring, unnecessary, and such a filler piece in 5. But then 6 came along, and we got some awesome development in the relationship between our leads, with the perfect mix of sizzle, sadness, and progression.

Pinocchio: Final Thoughts

Getting behind on the drama train is a mixed bag, in that you get to avoid the whole waiting game for episodes, but also just lose a lot of interest in these shows, making it difficult to reinvest in the series. Nonetheless, I've tried to power through some of the long-ago aired shows and wanted to ring in my final thoughts on Pinocchio. I know I was a major fan of this show when it first aired, but feel that it fell far short of its potential in the latter half.

The Fierce Wife: Series Review

My most recent marathon drama was 2011's Taiwan hit, The Fierce Wife. I've long wanted to watch it because of its obvious similarities to one of my favorite series, Queen of Reversals (which interestingly aired at almost the same time), with the second-chance story of a woman finding happiness after divorce. QOR still holds the superior spot in my heart, but as far as dramas go I can completely understand TFW's popular appeal. It tells a far more realistic story of a relationship falling apart and of the repercussions, both for the original marriage and the affair. Overall, TFW features an intelligent script, impressive acting on all fronts, and a cast of multidimensional, likable characters across the board.

5 Older Taiwan Dramas I Love

I caught the first 15 mins of the new drama Just You, which disappointingly felt like every Taiwan drama of the past couple years. The story was so full of cliches, overacting, and nonsense that I had to switch it off for my sanity. It features yet another chirpy, self-narrating, indignant Candy-type, played without any originality by Puff Guo (to give you an idea, the character answers a phone call from her bubble bath with "Are you happy? I'm happy!" - *headdesk*). And our hero - you guessed it - stoic, direct, and has a sob-story past. They tried to make that as apparent as possible by giving him a hatred of roses, and literally had him crush a rose between his fingers. Seriously?

Disappointing Dramas of 2012

This year, instead of doing a single mega-year-end review, I'm dividing the dramas I watched into categories to review separately. First up are the dramas that sadly failed to deliver, or as I call them, ones with "fast starts" that eventually peter away. The majority of these are Korean, unsurprisingly since these were what I watched most of, but later reviews will include more shows from other regions.

Some of these I dropped, but a large number I forced myself through due to residual affection, all the way to the disappointing end. There's no particular order to this, but here you go: